Hero guides:Swiftblade Mini Guide by Newti
(patch 1.0.2) Skill Build 1 - Blade Frenzy 2 - Stats 3 - Blade Frenzy 4 - Stats 5 - Blade Frenzy 6 - Swift Slashes 7 - Blade Frenzy 8 - Counter Attack 9 - Way of the Sword 10 - Way of the Sword 11 - Swift Slashes 12 - Way of the Sword 13 - Way of the Sword 14 - Counter Attack 15 - Counter Attack 16 - Swift Slashes 17 - Counter Attack 18 - Stats+ Justification / Modifications: Blade Frenzy and stats are taken for the first levels. Mainly to have enough Mana for Blade Frenzy + Swift Slashes at level 6. Also stats are more useful than Way of the Sword early on as you won't be auto attacking. One level of Counter Attack is taken at level 8. The first level gives you a 15% chance while the fourth level only gives a 30% chance to counter attack. You get 50% of the effect for 25% of the cost. Good Deal! If laned versus two aggressive melee heroes you can take the first level of Counter Attack on level 4. Starting Items: Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Mana Potion, Pretender's Crown, 2x Minor Totem Item Build: Logger's Hatchet >> (Power Supply >>) Ghost Marchers >> Runed Axe >> Shieldbreaker >> Abyssal Skull >> Staff of the Master Get a Logger's Hatchet from the Outpost asap. Power Supply is situational on Swiftblade, get it if you play against spamming opponents. Ghost Marchers are better than Steamboots on Swiftblade (Activate + Spin). The rest is basic carry gear. Shieldbreaker can be replaced with Frostburn. If playing against Hammer/Hellbringer/DL/... insert a Nullfire Blade after Runed Axe for Purge. Information: Roles: Hard-Carry Properties: None Prefered Lane: Short/Long Difficulty: 2 - Easy Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent Power: - Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium (Strong if paired with a disabler/slower) - Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium (Good ganking power with ult, but should farm instead of gank) - Late Game / Team Fights: 5 - Very Strong (Needs decent farm) Notable +/- and synergies: Very Strong with disablers or slowers (Glacius deserves special mentioning as his babysitter) 30-Seconds-Guide: - Remember you can attack while spinning once you reach level 7. This will GREATLY increase your damage! It got nerfed as of 0.3.3 but it is still pretty good. - You can spin and then use a homecoming stone to make sure they can't easily abort your TP. - Early game you can use Blade Frenzy to force the enemy away from his creeps and then use Swift Slashes on him once is he far enough for the kill. - Later in the game use Blade Frenzy like you would use a Shrunken Head. Thats pretty much what it is. Counters: - Any hero that can blink or invis is able to avoid Swift Slashes - Thus Assassins Shroud can be a solid pickup versus him. - The best counter-item however is Void Talisman! Very underrated item that is EXCELLENT against a few heroes, including Swiftblade. - Other than that he is not easy to counter. Barbed Armor is useless versus him and armor stacking will only take you so far. - Check/Wards ancient spots.